Free preschool scissor skills activities and worksheets for parents, and teachers who want to prepare their children for future success in school.

PreschoolActivityBox

We believe that young children learn through play and from engaging in age-appropriate preschool activities. Develop your preschool children’s ability and writing skills through various fun preschool fine-motor skills and cutting activities.

can use hands, wrists, and fingers to reach, grasp, and manipulate small objects and tools.

child can cut out shapes and is turning the paper

Remember, every child will acquire the fine-motor skills needed for handwriting in a different time table. The more your preschool child uses her fingers in activities that help to strengthen their hand coordination, the sooner they will master these skills.

Fine Motor and Scissor Skills
Fine motor skills are our ability to use our hands, wrists, and fingers to reach, grasp, and manipulate small objects and tools.

Scissor Skills
To develop and strengthen the fine motor muscles that are needed to manipulate a pencil, encourage preschool children to practice their cutting skills.

It is important to remember that children will develop fine motor skills and scissor skills at different rates. Choose the skill stage that matches your child’s development and be patient but at the same time, make sure to reinforce the proper hand/scissor position. Tip: Teaching the skills with your hand over your child’s cutting hand can help and speed up the learning process.

The following cutting skills are arranged sequentially from the simplest stage to the most complex stage.

Scissor Skill Stages

1. Picking Up and Holding the Scissors
Provide young children with preschool safety scissors (these scissors are specially designed to fit a child’s hand well) and help them to cut while making sure to put safety first. First demonstrate how to hold scissors. Show children how to place the thumb in the upper hole and the first two fingers (index and middle) in the lower hole. Let children practice picking up and holding the scissors.

2. Opening and Closing the Scissors
Help children to learn the motion of opening and closing the scissors. It can be helpful if you guide their fingers with your own so that they can feel what it’s like to open and close the scissor blades.

3. Snipping
Prepare one-inch wide strips of construction paper in different colors. Demonstrate how to snip the paper in one cut. Provide a tray to catch the cuttings. To start, hold the paper for your child and have him/her open his/her scissors. Let your child close the scissors to make a cut. Use saved cuttings to make an artwork by gluing the pieces on a piece of paper.

4. Free Cutting Practice
Have children cut play dough with scissors.
Have children cut magazines and advertisements.
Have children cut straws, yarn, or shredded paper.
Have children make fringe on the edge of a piece of paper.

This ebook has 27 motivating and fun, reproducible worksheets and craft ideas for children ages 4-6. The worksheets feature the Lily and EarTwiggle characters and fun exercises for children to practice the skissor and fine motor skills.